Academician who devoted her life to studying the human brain dies at the age of 84 [interview]
Change text size: A A
Yesterday, June 22, at the St. George's Hospital in Hamburg, at the age of 83, the famous neurophysiologist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, laureate of the USSR State Prize, member of many foreign academies Natalya Bekhtereva died.
For almost two decades, Natalya Petrovna was the scientific director of the Institute of the Human Brain Russian Academy Sciences. The famous researcher studied how the brain of a healthy and sick person works. Natalia Bekhtereva - author of about 400 scientific works, she owns discoveries in the field of mechanisms of thinking, memory, emotions and the organization of the human brain.
So, for example, Bekhtereva discovered that it is the neurons of the subcortical formations of the brain that “understand” speech, that the pathological state of the brain is the main cause of many chronic diseases nervous system. Academician Bekhtereva was one of the first to use the method of long-term implantation of electrodes in the human brain. Under her leadership, the central task of neurosurgery was finally solved - sparing contact with brain structures.
Fate. Natalya Bekhtereva was born in Leningrad on July 7, 1924 in an intelligent family. She was the granddaughter of the great scientist Academician Vladimir Bekhterev (when he died, she was 4 years old). Her childhood was difficult. After her father, an engineer, was shot as an enemy of the people, and her mother was sent to Stalin's camps, the girl ended up in orphanage. She became seriously interested in medicine during the war, when in besieged Leningrad She was on duty in hospitals, caring for the wounded.
Scientific career. In 1947, Natalya Bekhtereva graduated from the 1st Leningrad medical institute named after academician Pavlov, in 1950 - postgraduate studies at the Institute of Physiology of the Central nervous system of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. From 1950 to 1990 she worked at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. She headed the Research Institute of Experimental Medicine of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Then she began to lead the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Natalya Bekhtereva was a laureate of the USSR State Prize, a member of the Austrian and Finnish Academies of Sciences, the American Academy of Medicine and Psychiatry, and an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg.
Area of interest. Natalya Petrovna was a very interesting person, she studied the brains of leaders, met Vanga, and in last years believed in God and became interested in the phenomenon of experience after death. Natalya Bekhtereva wrote a book for the mass reader, where she spoke in understandable language about the human brain and its mysteries.
FROM INTERVIEWS IN DIFFERENT YEARS
About Faith in God
You are interested in how I came to faith. This moment had nothing to do with either Vanga's personality or his studies in science. It so happened that after a trip to Vanga - it just coincided in time - I experienced a lot. I survived the betrayal of my closest friends, the persecution at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, which I then headed and where I announced my decision to leave for the new Institute of the Brain, and the worst thing was the death of two of my close people: my husband and his son from my first marriage. They died very tragically, almost at the same time: Alik committed suicide, and her husband could not bear his death and died the same night.
That's when I changed a lot. My personal experience went completely beyond the explanation of the world known to me. For example, I could in no way find an explanation for the fact that my husband, after that, appeared to me in a dream, asked for help in publishing the manuscript of his book, which I had not read and which I would not have known without his words. This was not the first such experience in my life (before my father's arrest in 1937, I also had a dream, then reflected in reality), but here for the first time I thought seriously about what was happening. Of course, this new reality was frightening. But then my friend, priest, rector at Tsarskoye Selo Father Gennady helped me a lot ... By the way, he strongly advised me to talk less about this kind of experiences. Then I did not listen to this advice very much and even wrote about what happened in the book - just like I used to write about any other of my observations.
About the Internet
If I were asked what I consider the most important invention of mankind, I would certainly name the Internet. This most useful invention. But humanity, as a rule, does not invent the best for itself. building houses and atomic bomb builds to destroy them, fights infections and creates new infections, which then have to be fought again, and so on ... I would like to think that the peak of the Internet frenzy should pass and everything should fall into place. The person will use the Internet as needed. I believe that the possibilities of contact between people that the Internet has provided are fabulous. This is what people dreamed about. The possibilities of the Internet are such that the language does not turn around, to say that using it is harmful or not good. But when there is dependence on it, it is really bad. This dependence, in principle, is even treated in psychiatric institutions. And there is no need to argue whether this dependence of others is better or worse. Any addiction is not very good. The world has now fallen in love with the Internet so much that it is useless to discuss this problem, humanity will still use it.
About the possibilities of the brain
It always surprises me when someone tries to judge what percentage is loaded human brain. I have been working with the human brain all my life, and I know all the methods of brain research, but I cannot understand who and how it calculates.
We know that the brain is arranged in such a way that no matter what happens in it, the whole brain is necessarily activated. He loses all the possibilities, and then there is a minimization of the areas of the brain that will be involved. There are no situations when the brain does not lose options. This was once proved by Pavlov. We see this all the time. And this is wonderful, this is the best mechanism for self-preservation of the brain.
About recipes to strengthen memory
In order for the memory to be better, it must be exercised. Just as there are exercises to strengthen the muscles of the arms, legs, and abdominals, there are also exercises to strengthen the memory. They are very simple, public, they can be done in any setting. For example, many people are very fond of acquiring big amount notebooks, personal weekly journals, notebooks. Why not train your memory and try to memorize all the phone numbers of your friends and acquaintances?
After all, it is no coincidence that earlier in schools children were forced to cram a lot of things by heart. Cramming was generally one of the teaching methods. We have always been very critical of it and, in the end, liquidated it. And along with it, a good memory trainer was thrown into the trash. For memory training, it is very useful to study some foreign language memorize at least five to ten new words every day. Or learning poems by heart - it would seem a completely idle task, but, believe my experience, this is a very effective exercise. Many people are fond of solving crossword puzzles - also a good method for developing memory and associative thinking.
Be sure to fill up your lexicon, read more. And not only newspapers, although the press now we have is quite interesting and diverse, but also science fiction, and lyrics, and special literature - in order to receive as much information as possible. That is, to force your brain to work. In general, the more diverse information a person will try to remember, the better his memory will be. Therefore, do not take long breaks in mental work.
There are other ways to improve memory. For example, natural outdoor recreation. Forest walks are very beneficial, because it is not only a different composition of the air, different smells, but it is also a fundamental change in the environment, which in itself has a positive effect on the mechanism of our memory.
ABOUT prophetic dreams
As a rule, dreams are not related to the future, so dream books should not be taken seriously. But in my life there were several dreams that turned out to be prophetic. And one of them was incredibly prophetic, down to the details. It was a dream about my mother's death. Mom was alive and well, resting in the south, shortly before that I received a good letter from her. And in a dream, and I fell asleep during the day, I dreamed that a postman came to me with a telegram saying that my mother had died. I go to the funeral, I meet people there whom I have never seen before, I say hello to them, I call them by their names - it's all in a dream. When I woke up and told my husband about my dream, he said: "Do you, a specialist in the field of the brain, believe in dreams?"
In short, despite the fact that I was firmly convinced that I should fly to my mother, I was talked out of it. In fact, I allowed myself to be dissuaded. Well, ten days later everything happened exactly as it was in my dream. And down to the smallest detail. For example, I forgot the word village council a long time ago, I just never needed it. In a dream, I was looking for the village council, and in reality I had to look for it - that's the story. This happened to me personally, but I'm not the only one. There are many other cases of prophetic dreams and even scientific discoveries in a dream. For example, Mendeleev's discovery periodic system elements.
It cannot be explained. It’s better not to be smart and say it straight: since this is none of the modern scientific ways cannot be explained, we will have to assume that the future is given to us in advance, that it already exists. And we can, at least in a dream, get in touch either with a higher Mind, or with God - with Someone who owns knowledge about this future. With more definite formulations, I would like to wait, because the advances in the technological direction of brain science are so great that, perhaps, something else will be discovered that will shed light on this problem as well.
Used interviews from sites,.
Natalia Bekhtereva is one of the most famous women. She lived a long life: she was born in the year of Lenin's death, she died in 2008, when she turned 83.
This woman, who devoted herself and her life to uncovering the mysteries of the brain, argued that there is not only death, but also old age, that a person dies when he wants it, when his most important task is fulfilled: he writes a book, waits for his grandchildren, sees other worlds, discovers something important for yourself or science.
Natalya Bekhtereva was a home child and grew up in a very wealthy family: her grandfather was a famous doctor and scientist, her mother was also a doctor, her father was a talented engineer who loved and spoiled his children. A governess, a velvet dress and pretzel pigtails - all these are memories from those distant years that have remained the most expensive.
Natalya was also on that list, but then she was saved by the fact that she was not yet fourteen. Dad will be shot almost immediately after his arrest, his relatives will be told that they gave him ten years without the right to correspond, his mother will be sentenced to five years, in fact it turned out to be eight, sent to the camp in a common carriage; Bekhterev's young wife, Bertha, will also be shot.
Relatives disowned the three children left without parents and they were sent to a boarding school for the children of the repressed. It is good that they left in Leningrad and that the director of the boarding school turned out to be an understanding person who taught children never to deviate from the intended goal and not to lose self-esteem.
Three years later, Natasha graduated from high school and decided to enter any university that was accepted. I didn't even think about medicine. Medical was among those eight institutes to which she applied: at least one of them will fall. But my mother's program worked on its own.
In the summer of 1941, the war began, and all the institutes urgently began to evacuate. Only the medical school remained in the city, in which she was enrolled. Seven hundred people entered with her, four graduated. The rest died at the front or from starvation.
Then there were graduate studies and the choice of the subject of research, to which she remained faithful until the end of her life - the brain. Then he was studied at the most primitive level: during the operation, a person was forced to talk with doctors, and if he started to get confused, it meant that something was wrong.
In other words, they studied the brain using the “poke” method: it’s good that the brain does not respond to pain, because it has no painful endings. As a result of a long scientific activity, Natalya Bekhtereva is inclined to believe that the brain of creative people always works one hundred percent, but only works according to the principle of a Christmas tree garland: the lights light up in turn - then some lights will light up, then others.
And in the brain there is always an error detector that signals incorrectly built expressions or other errors, and if a person has experienced some kind of stress, then his brain is rebuilt - re-centered and the person is right, saying: "After the experience, I became a different person."
She admits that thought and the brain are separate substances: the brain only catches the thought, reading it from space, which she could be convinced of when she met Vanga. Vanga read information from items that belonged to a person, but how she did it, Natalya Bekhtereva remained unclear.
From the same series of unsolved mysteries of the brain are prophetic dreams that predict the future, although modern science believes that dreams are the result of processing information accumulated in the brain during the day. Natalya Petrovna talks about her four prophetic dreams.
First: in a dream, she saw her dad fall through the floor, and the next day he was arrested. The second is about how the beloved woman of her first husband, who was considered dead, sits in a house where they grieved for her, and drinks tea. Natalya greets her, but she does not get up and does not answer.
When Natalya Petrovna woke up, she ran to report that this woman was alive, and entering the room, she saw, one on one, the same scene as in the dream. The woman was really alive, sitting at the table and drinking tea and did not get up - because she was pregnant in the ninth month.
The third dream is about the death of her mother: in a dream, they bring her a telegram, which informs her that her mother has died and that she must go to the funeral. Relatives assured me that all this was meaningless trifles, especially since a week earlier a letter had arrived in which my mother told me how well she was resting. Natalya Bekhtereva calmed down, and soon a telegram arrived with exactly the same words that she had read in a dream.
The fourth dream is about a book that her husband wanted to show her, but she had no time, and he did not dare to let her read it. In a dream, he reproaches her for inattention to his affairs and asks her to find the book in his papers and give it to print. When she woke up, she really found her husband's manuscript, which she had never seen before, and gave it to the press. So all four prophetic dreams were realized.
Then there were several more strange cases, inexplicable to herself: she felt a putrid smell at the door of her adopted son, who committed suicide, but this happened just a few minutes before his discovery. The body had not yet cooled down and could not emit this smell.
Upon returning home, she again felt the same smell. The husband was at home. She informed him of her son's death. He was calm, went to bed, and a few hours later he was gone: he died of a stroke. Another pattern that Natalya Bekhtereva noticed: as soon as she came close to some very important milestone in her life, she began a black streak: troubles, death of loved ones, problems at work, betrayal of friends ....
Another inexplicable thing for her happened after the death of her husband. Incredible things began to happen in the apartment: someone's steps, the creak of the floorboards, tears in the photograph of her husband, and then a man standing under the window of their apartment with her husband's face.
It was a terrible period, from which she was cured by the need to prepare a report: she had a super task that saved her. She survived her pain and began to live again. As a scientist, Natalya Bekhtereva tried to find a clue to what happened, but refused to comment on it.
It was all. But these phenomena ate her up: headaches appeared, pressure increased, drowsiness attacked. She was treated: it helped physically, but her soul still hurt. Then she came to the temple, found a confessor and depression began to recede, the visions stopped.
After everything that happened in her life, Natalya Petrovna is sure, like her famous grandfather, that thought is a special kind of energy that does not disappear anywhere, and that the brain is much closer to the Divine origin than to the material one. Natalya Bekhtereva could not explain much, but as a scientist she believed that she had no right to dismiss facts just because they did not fit into someone's picture of the world.
“I know how dangerous it is to move into this “mirror”. I know how to calmly remain on the broad road of science, how the “citation index” rises in this case, and how the danger of trouble decreases - in the form of devastating, annihilating criticism ... But it seems to me that everyone on earth, to the best of his ability, must fulfill his own duty".
Posted on the site 06/24/2008.
Academician Natalya Petrovna Bekhtereva died. Before last day she was scientific director of the Human Brain Institute. Natalya Petrovna's reflections have always amazed me with their depth and openness, frankness of judgments. Openness of judgment is the privilege of a free and smart person who sees a complex picture of the world.
Natalya Petrovna worked with the most complex of structures that a person has ever encountered - with the human brain. I remember how at the very beginning of my studies with Altshuller, I was struck by the idea that a person (and therefore the human brain) is trying to understand how the human brain works. Tries and fails...
The path to the depths of oneself is the most difficult. And thank God that there are people who follow it, despite all the difficulties.
Read one of the latest publications by N.P. Bekhtereva, dated last year.
Editor
For thousands of years man has been studying his own brain. But until now, it seems, knows less about him than about space. Perhaps the mysteries of gray matter will never be fully solved.
NATALIA BEKHTEREVA, a world-famous neurophysiologist, academician, honorary member of dozens of scientific societies, has been brainstorming for more than half a century. For 16 years she has been the scientific director of the Institute of the Human Brain in St. Petersburg. In her rare interviews, Natalya Petrovna lifts the veil of secrecy that hides the “center of thoughts” from us.
The brain is a "being in a being"
QUESTION of questions: what is the brain? Nobel Laureate The physiologist Eccles argued that the brain is only a receptor through which the soul perceives the world. I first heard Eccles speak at a UNESCO meeting in 1984. And I thought: “What nonsense!” It all seemed wild. The concept of "soul" for me then was beyond the bounds of science. But the more I studied the brain, the more I remembered Eccles... I would like to believe that the brain is not only a receptor. Not all of its secrets have yet been revealed.
I often think of the brain as if it were a separate organism, like a "being within a being." Sometimes he amazes me... If he is not a "receptor" - then what? I think we can get closer to the solution when we study the brain code of mental activity - that is, we look at what happens in the areas of the brain related to thinking and creativity. So far, everything is not clear for me here ... The brain absorbs information, processes it and makes decisions - this is true. But sometimes a person receives a ready-made formulation as if from nowhere. As a rule, this happens against an even emotional background: not too much joy or sadness, but not complete peace either. Some optimal "level of active wakefulness." This is illumination.
Illumination is a priceless gift
Everyone who is engaged in creativity knows about the PHENOMENON of insight. And not only creativity: this still little studied ability often plays a decisive role in any business. And what exactly is it due to? .. The brain has its own self-preservation and protection unit, like a fuse - an error detector. The brain protects itself from a flurry negative emotions didn't capture it completely. When I realized this, I felt like I had found a pearl. Where does such an analogy come from? I love Steinbeck's The Pearl. Its heroes, divers, say: to find a real pearl, you need to want it, but not too much. This is a special state of consciousness, and it happens that insight comes in it.
Could this be the result of brain work? Yes maybe. I just don't have a good idea how. Because the formulations that we receive as if from the outside are painfully beautiful and perfect. My work today is the study of creativity, inspiration, insight, "breakthrough" - when an idea appears as if from nothing ... There are two hypotheses on this score: at the moment of insight, the brain works like an ideal receiver. But then it must be admitted that the information came from outside - from outer space or from the fourth dimension. This is not yet proven. And we can say that the brain created ideal conditions for itself and “lit up”. But be that as it may, insight is also a pearl of consciousness, a priceless gift. Remember Archimedes with his "Eureka!"? I experienced it myself: twice in my life the formulas of theories came to me exactly like that ... How beautiful and flawless they were! I did not immediately believe in my happiness when I met with the smart laws of the brain ...
I thought: is this detector good or bad for creativity? It promotes flight creative thought or slow it down? At first it seemed to me that, of course, he should only interfere. Creativity is always the creation of something new, and the detector seems to compare this “something” with the matrix and, if there are inconsistencies, takes action. That is, when you are ready to soar, it seems to pull you back: “Don’t get in there, stop, you won’t end up in trouble!” But now I think that he can help so that we do not waste energy on inventing a bicycle ...
What kind of state is it, after all, into which you need to fall in order to be enlightened? "Brainstorm"? Detachment? A kind of trance when you can perceive the "inner voice" or "voice from above"? I could answer like this: “Insight requires the activation of certain areas of the brain, including, probably, the 39th and 40th field according to Brodman.” But if you do not get into such jungle, then you simply should not be too excited or, on the contrary, indifferent. You need a little detachment and at the same time a long focus on the problem. And then, perhaps, the brain will turn on hidden reserves.
Masters of culture describe the moment of creativity as follows: “I started to create, but woke up two hours later.” What is happening at this time? It's all about emotional intensity. This happens even in times of trouble. It happens that a person will see something terrible, for example, signs of an incurable disease in a loved one. Due to severe shock, he can forget about it, and a vague feeling remains - "something happened." It's the same with creativity. Remember how Pushkin exclaimed when he wrote "Eugene Onegin": "What did this Tatyana throw out to me ?! She got married!..”? I am also struck by the defense mechanisms in the brains of actors that allow them to survive under the onslaught of storms of emotions.
… And one more thing: there is no genius without insights. Scientists have repeatedly tried to explain the phenomenon of genius. They even wanted to create a research institute in Moscow to study the brain of gifted people during their lifetime. But neither then nor now are there any differences between genius and ordinary person not found. I personally think it's a special biochemistry of the brain. As for Pushkin, for example, it was natural to “think” in rhyme. This is an "anomaly", most likely non-heritable. They say that genius and madness are similar. Madness is also the result of a special biochemistry of the brain. A breakthrough in the study of this phenomenon will most likely occur in the field of genetics.
Consciousness and soul are not synonyms
Is there a soul? If so, then what is it?.. Something that permeates the entire body, which is not hindered by walls, doors, or ceilings. The soul, for lack of better formulations, is also called, for example, what supposedly leaves the body when a person dies ...
Where is the place of the soul - in the brain, spinal cord, in the heart, in the stomach? It will all be fortune-telling on the coffee grounds, no matter who answers you. You can say - "in the whole body" or "outside the body, somewhere nearby." I think this substance needs no space. If it is, then in the whole body.
Consciousness and soul are not synonyms for me. There are many formulations about consciousness, one worse than the other. Suitable and this: "Awareness of oneself in the world around." When a person comes to his senses after a faint, the first thing he begins to understand is that there is something besides himself nearby. Although in an unconscious state, the brain also perceives information. Sometimes patients, waking up, talk about what they could not see. And the soul... what the soul is, I don't know. They even tried to weigh the soul. Some very small grams are obtained. I don't really believe in it. When a person dies, a thousand processes take place in the human body. Maybe it's just thinner? It is impossible to prove that it was precisely the “soul that flew away”.
Is it possible to say exactly where our consciousness is located? In the brain? Or not? Consciousness is a phenomenon of the brain, although it is very dependent on the state of the body. You can deprive a person of consciousness by pinching his neck artery with two fingers, change the blood flow, but this is very dangerous. This is the result of activity, I would even say - the life of the brain. So more precisely. When you wake up, at the same second you regain consciousness. The whole organism "comes to life" at once. It's like all the lights are on at the same time.
"It's not death that's terrible, it's dying"
Is there life after death? I know one thing: clinical death is not a failure, not a temporary non-existence. The person is alive at this moment. And what exactly happens to the brain and consciousness?.. It seems to me that the brain dies not when oxygen does not enter the vessels for six minutes, but at the moment when it finally begins to flow. All the products of a not very perfect metabolism “pile up” on the brain and finish it off. For some time I worked in the intensive care unit of the Military Medical Academy and watched it happen. The most terrible period is when doctors take a person out of critical condition and bring him back to life.
Some cases of visions and "returns" after clinical death seem convincing to me. They are so beautiful! Doctor Andrey Gnezdilov told me about one thing. Once, during an operation, he watched a patient who experienced clinical death, and then, waking up, told an unusual dream. Gnezdilov managed to confirm this dream. Indeed, the situation described by the woman took place at a great distance from the operating room, and all the details matched.
But this is not always the case. When the first boom in the study of the phenomenon of “life after death” began, at one of the meetings, the president of the Academy medical sciences Blokhin asked academician Arutyunov, who had twice experienced clinical death, what did he see. Arutyunov replied: "Just a black hole." What is it? He saw everything, but forgot? Or was there really nothing? What is the phenomenon of the dying brain? This after all is suitable only for clinical death. As for the biological one, no one really returned from there. Although some clergy, in particular Seraphim Rose, have evidence of such returns.
Yes, it is possible that the visions of survivors of clinical death are just the result of the activity of a dying brain ... Why do we sometimes see our surroundings as if from the outside? It is possible that at extreme moments in the brain, not only the usual mechanisms of vision are activated, but also the mechanisms of a holographic nature. For example, during childbirth: according to our research, several percent of women in childbirth also have a state, as if the “soul” comes out. Women giving birth feel out of the body, watching what is happening from the side. And at this time they do not feel pain. I don't know what it is - a brief clinical death or a phenomenon associated with the brain. More like the last one.
Almost all people are afraid of death...
They say that the fear of waiting for death is many times worse than death itself. Jack London has a story about a man who wanted to steal a dog sled. The dogs bit him. The man bled out and died. And before that he said: "People slandered death." It's not death that's terrible, it's dying.
Self-preservation instinct - against telepathy
UNFORTUNATELY, during my research, I was not able to, as they say, "catch the thought." The most advanced equipment at the Institute of the Brain is not able to either confirm or refute anything here. Other methods and devices are needed, they have not yet been developed. Today we can judge the state of the active points of the brain. In the brain, during special tests, certain areas are activated ... We can say that active work takes place in these areas - for example, creative work. But in order to “see” a thought, one must at least extract from the brain information about the dynamics of the impulse activity of neurons and decipher them. So far, this is not feasible. Yes, certain areas of the brain are related to creativity. But what exactly is going on there? It's a mystery.
The eternal question: does telepathy exist? I can say one thing: reading other people's thoughts is dangerous! Reading minds is unprofitable for society. It is, as it were, "closed" from telepathy. This is the instinct of self-preservation. If all people learn to read other people's thoughts, life in society will stop. If this phenomenon existed, over time it would have to fade away.
Who has not tried to engage in telepathy! A lot of such "crazy" people came to our institute. Nothing has been confirmed. Although striking coincidences are known - for example, when mothers felt at a great distance that something tragic was happening to their children. I think that this connection is formed in the womb.
Sleep is the place of dreams
ANOTHER secret of our brain is dreams. The biggest mystery to me seems to be the very fact that we sleep. I think that once, when our planet settled down, it was beneficial to sleep in the dark. That's what we do, out of habit. The brain has a huge number of interchangeable elements. Could the brain arrange itself so as not to sleep? I think yes. For example, in dolphins, the left and right hemispheres sleep alternately. They say that there are people who do not sleep at all ...
How can one explain "dreams with continuation" and similar oddities? I don't think we should bring here the belief in reincarnation - the transmigration of souls, that we all saw this in some other lives. This phenomenon has not been proven by science. Let's say that this is not the first time you have dreamed of some very good, but unfamiliar place - for example, a city. Most likely, the "fabulous cities" of dreams are formed in the brain under the influence of books, movies, and become, as it were, a permanent place of dreams. We are drawn to something not yet experienced in life, but very good.
Or prophetic dreams: rare, but it happens. Involuntarily, you will think: “dreams in the hand” - is it receiving information from the outside, foreseeing the future, or just random coincidences? Let's calculate how many dreams a person sees in a lifetime. Infinite set. Sometimes thousands a year. And from them prophetic it turns out, well, one, two. Probability theory. Although the monk Abel also lived, who predicted the future royal families, and Michel Nostradamus, and other prophets. How to treat it? Accurately, I don't know. I myself saw the death of my mother in a dream two weeks "before the event" with all the details.
... They ask me: fatal love, fate-predestination, suicidal tendencies, insight as the peak of creativity, intuition - the “sixth sense”, clairvoyance, prophetic dreams ... What is this - is it just a product of brain activity? I will answer this way: "Not only the brain, but the brain - for sure."
Natalya Bekhtereva: there is no death, it is not terrible, dying is terrible
Strange mystical incidents that cannot be rationally explained have happened to many. Natalya Petrovna Bekhtereva was no exception. But first, a little about the fate of this legendary woman. Natalya Petrovna was born in Leningrad in the year of Lenin's death (1924). Her grandfather, an outstanding neurophysiologist, died three years after the birth of her granddaughter. Once he diagnosed Stalin with paranoia and diagnosed Lenin's death from cerebral syphilis. Most likely, this was the cause of his sudden and mysterious death. Little Natasha's father was shot as an enemy of the people in 1938, his mother was repressed after him. Natasha, along with her younger sister and brother Andrei, were left orphans. Then there was a terrible orphanage, with sadistic teachers, war, besieged Leningrad. Despite all the horror of childhood, Natasha graduated from medical school, graduate school, and at the age of 35 she defended her doctoral dissertation. She was the scientific director of the brain center of the Academy of Sciences, and in the early nineties of the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Natalia Bekhtereva: thought exists separately from the brain
Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, of many scientific academies of other countries. Author of almost four hundred scientific papers. many discoveries in the field of mechanisms of memory, emotions, thinking, organization of the brain. A scientist who is unconditionally recognized all over the world.
In a country where religion and mysticism were banned, Natalya Petrovna always, although cautiously, regularly expressed her views on many things that were considered unscientific nonsense, on the existence of the soul and life after death, and also on the fact that the brain does not produce thought, but only catches it.
Prophetic dreams of Natalia Bekhtereva
First dream
She saw her first prophetic dream at the age of thirteen, her father. She dreamed of a long corridor, at the end of which stood her father. He was surprisingly poorly dressed: in canvas shoes and old summer rags. Natasha was very surprised then, because even at home he always dressed elegantly.
The brain is even more amazing than we think Suddenly, the floor of the corridor began to slowly rise. Daddy's favorite figurines rolled down it, and tongues of flame began to burst out from under the floorboards, which engulfed the walls of the corridor. The girl woke up terrified. But the next night it happened again. Natasha woke up: the lamps of the chandelier were burning brightly, some people were noisily walking around the room, janitors were standing at the door, filled with a sense of their own importance and involvement in what was happening.
Second dream
The second time she saw her dead husband. He asked Natalya Petrovna to help publish the manuscript of his book, which she had not read before and would not have known about its existence before this dream. And then the meeting took place in reality. It was one of the most incomprehensible and terrible episodes in the life of a world-famous scientist.
The girl-secretary of Natalya Petrovna became a witness of her contact with the other world. First they both heard footsteps in the living room. Footsteps were loud and clear, but no one appeared. It was then that both had a strange feeling of the presence of someone or something. Natalya Petrovna looked out the window. From the height of the third floor, she made out a strangely dressed man who, attentively and without looking up, looked into her eyes. With horror, the woman realized that she had met the eyes of Ivan Ilyich, her late husband. She stood in a daze in front of the open curtain until she was roused from her state of somnambulism by the cry of the secretary girl. Her face was like a sheet of paper, completely white without shadows.
— Natalya Petrovna! It's Ivan Ilyich! Seen? He walked towards the garage with his peculiar gait. Didn't you recognize him?
Of course she recognized him.
third dream
In the third dream, everything coincided with reality down to the smallest details. Natalya Petrovna dreamed of a postman. He came to her house and held out a telegram. The lines said that her mother. In fact, she was alive and resting on a tour in the south. Recently Natalya Petrovna received a cheerful letter from her. Nothing foretold misfortune.
In a dream, the orphaned daughter packed up and went to the funeral. There were many people. Natalya met there whom she had not seen before, but knew from somewhere, because she greeted everyone and called them by name. One of them told her where the village council was, and she went there for a death certificate. Exactly ten days later, everything happened exactly the same as in a dream. Down to the smallest detail. Natalya Petrovna recalls that she had forgotten the word village soviet a long time ago, but in reality (as in a dream) she had to look for it in order to get a certificate.
Academician who devoted her life to studying the human brain dies at the age of 84 [interview]
Change text size: A A
Yesterday, June 22, at the St. George's Hospital in Hamburg, at the age of 83, the famous neurophysiologist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, laureate of the USSR State Prize, member of many foreign academies Natalya Bekhtereva died.
For almost two decades, Natalya Petrovna was the scientific director of the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The famous researcher studied how the brain of a healthy and sick person works. Natalia Bekhtereva is the author of about 400 scientific papers, she owns discoveries in the field of mechanisms of thinking, memory, emotions and the organization of the human brain.
So, for example, Bekhtereva discovered that it is the neurons of the subcortical formations of the brain that “understand” speech, that the pathological state of the brain is the main cause of many chronic diseases of the nervous system. Academician Bekhtereva was one of the first to use the method of long-term implantation of electrodes in the human brain. Under her leadership, the central task of neurosurgery was finally solved - sparing contact with brain structures.
Fate. Natalya Bekhtereva was born in Leningrad on July 7, 1924 in an intelligent family. She was the granddaughter of the great scientist Academician Vladimir Bekhterev (when he died, she was 4 years old). Her childhood was difficult. After her father, an engineer, was shot as an enemy of the people, and her mother was sent to Stalin's camps, the girl ended up in an orphanage. She became seriously interested in medicine during the war, when she was on duty in hospitals in besieged Leningrad, caring for the wounded.
Scientific career. In 1947, Natalya Bekhtereva graduated from the 1st Leningrad Medical Institute named after academician Pavlov, in 1950 she completed her postgraduate studies at the Institute of Physiology of the CNS of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. From 1950 to 1990 she worked at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. She headed the Research Institute of Experimental Medicine of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Then she began to lead the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Natalya Bekhtereva was a laureate of the USSR State Prize, a member of the Austrian and Finnish Academies of Sciences, the American Academy of Medicine and Psychiatry, and an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg.
Area of interest. Natalya Petrovna was a very interesting person, she studied the brains of leaders, met Vanga, and in recent years she believed in God and became interested in the phenomenon of experience after death. Natalya Bekhtereva wrote a book for the mass reader, where she spoke in understandable language about the human brain and its mysteries.
FROM INTERVIEWS IN DIFFERENT YEARS
About Faith in God
You are interested in how I came to faith. This moment had nothing to do with either Vanga's personality or his studies in science. It so happened that after a trip to Vanga - it just coincided in time - I experienced a lot. I survived the betrayal of my closest friends, the persecution at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, which I then headed and where I announced my decision to leave for the new Institute of the Brain, and the worst thing was the death of two of my close people: my husband and his son from my first marriage. They died very tragically, almost at the same time: Alik committed suicide, and her husband could not bear his death and died the same night.
That's when I changed a lot. My personal experience went completely beyond the explanation of the world known to me. For example, I could in no way find an explanation for the fact that my husband, after that, appeared to me in a dream, asked for help in publishing the manuscript of his book, which I had not read and which I would not have known without his words. This was not the first such experience in my life (before my father's arrest in 1937, I also had a dream, then reflected in reality), but here for the first time I thought seriously about what was happening. Of course, this new reality was frightening. But then my friend, priest, rector at Tsarskoye Selo Father Gennady helped me a lot ... By the way, he strongly advised me to talk less about this kind of experiences. Then I did not listen to this advice very much and even wrote about what happened in the book - just like I used to write about any other of my observations.
About the Internet
If I were asked what I consider the most important invention of mankind, I would certainly name the Internet. This is the most useful invention. But humanity, as a rule, does not invent the best for itself. He builds houses and builds an atomic bomb to destroy them, fights infections and creates new infections, which then have to be fought again, and so on ... I would like to think that the peak of the Internet frenzy should pass and everything should fall into place. The person will use the Internet as needed. I believe that the possibilities of contact between people that the Internet has provided are fabulous. This is what people dreamed about. The possibilities of the Internet are such that the language does not turn around, to say that using it is harmful or not good. But when there is dependence on it, it is really bad. This dependence, in principle, is even treated in psychiatric institutions. And there is no need to argue whether this dependence of others is better or worse. Any addiction is not very good. The world has now fallen in love with the Internet so much that it is useless to discuss this problem, humanity will still use it.
About the possibilities of the brain
It always surprises me when someone tries to judge how much the human brain is loaded. I have been working with the human brain all my life, and I know all the methods of brain research, but I cannot understand who and how it calculates.
We know that the brain is arranged in such a way that no matter what happens in it, the whole brain is necessarily activated. He loses all the possibilities, and then there is a minimization of the areas of the brain that will be involved. There are no situations when the brain does not lose options. This was once proved by Pavlov. We see this all the time. And this is wonderful, this is the best mechanism for self-preservation of the brain.
About recipes to strengthen memory
In order for the memory to be better, it must be exercised. Just as there are exercises to strengthen the muscles of the arms, legs, and abdominals, there are also exercises to strengthen the memory. They are very simple, public, they can be done in any setting. For example, many people are very fond of acquiring a large number of notebooks, personal weeklies, notebooks. Why not train your memory and try to memorize all the phone numbers of your friends and acquaintances?
After all, it is no coincidence that earlier in schools children were forced to cram a lot of things by heart. Cramming was generally one of the teaching methods. We have always been very critical of it and, in the end, liquidated it. And along with it, a good memory trainer was thrown into the trash. For memory training, it is very useful to study some foreign language, memorize at least five to ten new words every day. Or learning poems by heart - it would seem a completely idle task, but, believe my experience, this is a very effective exercise. Many people are fond of solving crossword puzzles - also a good method for developing memory and associative thinking.
Be sure to replenish your vocabulary, read more. And not only newspapers, although the press now we have is quite interesting and diverse, but also science fiction, and lyrics, and special literature - in order to receive as much information as possible. That is, to force your brain to work. In general, the more diverse information a person will try to remember, the better his memory will be. Therefore, do not take long breaks in mental work.
There are other ways to improve memory. For example, natural outdoor recreation. Forest walks are very beneficial, because it is not only a different composition of the air, different smells, but it is also a fundamental change in the environment, which in itself has a positive effect on the mechanism of our memory.
About prophetic dreams
As a rule, dreams are not related to the future, so dream books should not be taken seriously. But in my life there were several dreams that turned out to be prophetic. And one of them was incredibly prophetic, down to the details. It was a dream about my mother's death. Mom was alive and well, resting in the south, shortly before that I received a good letter from her. And in a dream, and I fell asleep during the day, I dreamed that a postman came to me with a telegram saying that my mother had died. I go to the funeral, I meet people there whom I have never seen before, I say hello to them, I call them by their names - it's all in a dream. When I woke up and told my husband about my dream, he said: "Do you, a specialist in the field of the brain, believe in dreams?"
In short, despite the fact that I was firmly convinced that I should fly to my mother, I was talked out of it. In fact, I allowed myself to be dissuaded. Well, ten days later everything happened exactly as it was in my dream. And down to the smallest detail. For example, I forgot the word village council a long time ago, I just never needed it. In a dream, I was looking for the village council, and in reality I had to look for it - that's the story. This happened to me personally, but I'm not the only one. There are many other cases of prophetic dreams and even scientific discoveries in a dream. For example, Mendeleev's discovery of the periodic system of elements.
It cannot be explained. It is better not to be wiser and to say bluntly: since this cannot be explained by any of the modern scientific methods, we will have to assume that the future is given to us in advance, that it already exists. And we can, at least in a dream, get in touch either with a higher Mind, or with God - with Someone who owns knowledge about this future. With more definite formulations, I would like to wait, because the advances in the technological direction of brain science are so great that, perhaps, something else will be discovered that will shed light on this problem as well.
Used interviews from sites,.
